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Mr. William Endicott communicated tlie following paper, 
written by Mr. Alfred B. Patce : 

AN EARLY AMP:RICAN POEM. 

The prevailing idea, in the last quarter of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, of the ominous significance of the phenomenon of comets is 
set forth in verse in a poem " Written by J. W. in New-England," 
dated March 6, lt)80-81, and printed at London by J. Darby in 
1688, making a pamphlet of sixteen pages — the title on the recto 
of the fii'st leaf and the text filling pp. 3-15. 

The title reads as follows : ^ 

* John Prentice. ' John Pinkerton. 

^ While NoveniBer 18 is the date given in the title, the heading on p. 3 
reads: '"A Judicious Obser cation of that Dreadful Comet which api)€ared oti Hie 
2Qth of November, 1680." 



Gift 

Author 

J5»fy»0a 



404 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

A 

Judicious Observation 

OF THAT 

lareatrfttl €amtU 

WHICH 

Appeared on November 18. 1680, and 
continued until the 10th of Fe- 
hruary following. 
Wherein is shewed the manifold Judg- 
ments that are like to attend upon 
most parts of the World. 

Written J^y J. W. in New-England. 

Nimquam futilibus excanduit ig?iibus ^ther. 

Heavens face such Comets ne're did stain, 
But mortal Men felt grievous pain. 

Heavens face with Flames were never fill'd, 
But sorrows great Mens hearts soon thrill'd. 

Such Comets when Heav'ns face they cover, 
Bespeak aloud that Changes hover. 

LOND ON, Printed by J. Darby, Anno 1683. 

But it is as a hitherto unnoticed early American poem rather 
than as a theological prophecy that the production has value and 
•interest now. Being a London publication of an American poem, 
the pamphlet is of quite as much interest as if it had been issued 
from the local press ; and the circumstance perhaps gives an added 
distinction to the little book. 

The following extracts show the style and tenor of the verses 
and the poetical fancy and practised hand of the author: 

( Hence all Flesh, your selves prepare 
To read those Lines which written are 
In Heavens large /oZ/o, with the hand 
Of him that doth all things command. 

My Genius moves me to declare. 

And to relate what Changes are, 



S' 



1907J A POEM BY THE REV. ICHABOD WISWALL 405 

Like raging Waves of th' Ocean great, 
Rouling themselves upon the seat 
Of Vesta now, whereon we dwell. 
And must go hence to Heaven or Hell, 
rie not besmear my Paper with 
Volatile Megrim-Fancies, sith 
The Eccho of approaching trouble 
Upon us now doth daily double. 

My Muse grows solid, and retires 
From those chill-painted Fancy-Fires 
Wherewith sometimes she lov'd to toy, 
And therefore crys, Pardoii ci rnoy.^ 

You nimble Lads, who Neptune ride, 

And dreadless through fierce Ocean slide, 

Reef it awhile : All hands aloft ! 

Mind well your Helm ; for you'l have oft 

Salt breeming Waves, which will not burn, 

Yet must become your dismal Urn. 

Your Carcasses when you are dead 

Will try the Depth, like Sounding-Lead; 

Your briny Coats, and swollen Bulks, 

Must roul on Shores like Shipwrack'd Hulks.^ 

A Central Line of darksome Shade 
This sweeping Tail to our view made : 
Which signifies the House of Mors 
To those who still without remorse 
Are glewed unto fond Tradition, 
And to the Truth will not them fashion.^ 

The conclusion of the poem is as follows : 

Must Heathen Nations still combine 
To mine what is prov'd divine? 
Shall infidels boldly presume 
God's holy People to consume? 
Shall Hereticks be bold to vent 
Such Fallacies as Churches rent? 
Shall Truth be trodden to the Ground 
By Policy of Hell profound? 

' Page 3. - Pages 7, 8. ^ Paj;e 13. 



I 



406 THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS [Dec. 

Shall Antichrist his Wound now heal, 

By trampling down the Common-weal? 

Shall Kings and Princes now fall down 

Themselves and theirs to th' Triple Crown; 

Basely prostrate, and willingly 

Adore him who in 's Villany 

Doth cheat the World fallaciously, 

Imposing on them cuningly? 

Shall they their Swords and Spears cast down 

At 's Feet, and swear to guard his Crown, 

Who is their Vassal, and no Prince, 

As will appear when he goes hence ? 

Shall th' Golden Cup of Mountebanks 

Clieat all Men, yea, Men of all ranks? 

Shall no Man see and shun the Cheat? 

Sure when 'tis thus, God's Wrath is great. 

If any ask how this can he? 

Let him anatomize these three : 

1 mean the Pope, the Tiirk^ the Devil, 

Grand Architects of all that 's evil. 

My Heart is cold, my Quill grows dry. 

And must awhile in silence lie. 
Sic Cecinit. J. W. 
March 6. I687. 

As to the authorship of the poem and the identity of " J. W.," 
it is striking that so many names with these initial letters can be 
easily picked out among the scholars and poets of New England at 
that time as the possible author. There was the famous minister 
and publicist, John Wise, of Ipswich, the Rev. John Woodbridge, 
the father (of Andover), or the son (of Wethersfield, Connecticut), 
any one of whom might have written the poem ; then of the 
Winthrop family, a name which naturally suggests itself, there was 
[Fitz-] John, and strangely enough there is among the Winthrop 
family papers a carelessly made manusciipt copy which plainly 
shows, after a careful comparison, evidence of having been taken 
from the printed poem. 

Of the Rev. Ichabod Wiswall, of Duxbury, it has been stated by 
excellent authority, Alden Bradford, that '' he wrote a poem which 
was occasioned by the appearance of a comet, and which was pub- 
lished in London." ^ Samuel Deane, in his History of Scituate, 

' 1 Massachusetts Historical Collections, ii. 8. 



1907] A POEM BY THE REV. ICHABOD WISWALL 407 

and Justin Winsor, in the History of Duxbury, also refer to the 
existence of such a poem by Wiswall. These several references to 
the poem and its author seem to leave no doubt as to its identity 
with the one under consideration ; but this is the first time that 
the identification has been noted and established in print. 

So far as is known this poem constitutes Mr. Wiswall's only 
literary production, and it is worthy of notice and of reproduction 
on account of its excellence as verse and of its rarity. 

The result of this investigation as to the authorship of this 
unrecognized American poem is confirmed by an entry in the Rev. 
Thomas Prince's Manuscript, Catalogue, which I have since seen, 
where the authorship is also attributed to Ichabod Wiswall. 
There is not now, however, a copy of the work in the Prince Col- 
lection at the Boston Pubhc Library, although in the general 
collection of the library is the copy sold at the Aspin wall-Barlow 
sale a few years ago. In the library of the Massachusetts Histori- 
cal Society is another copy which has been there many years. 

It is not the purpose of this paper to furnish a biography of 
Mr. Wiswall, however deserving he may be of a place of rank 
among the early scholars of New England, but the following brief 
sketch may serve as an outline of his life. 

Ichabod Wiswall was born in Dorchester in 1637, and was 
admitted to Harvard College, although he did not graduate, as will 
be seen further on. In 1655 he was teacher of the Dorchester 
school, and for many years in his later life was the noted teacher of 
Duxbury. The period of Mr. Wiswall's life spent in the settlements 
on the Kennebec River was described in 1896 by the Rev. Henry 
O. Thayer.' In Duxbury Mr. Wiswall was ordained as the minister 
of the church in 1676, and here for a quarter of a century he was 
the faithful minister and helpful citizen until his death in the year 
1700. In 1689-1690 he was the chosen Agent of the Plymouth 
Colon}^ as Increase Mather was of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 
at the English Court, which mission kept him there many months. 
The expressions in his letter to Governor Thomas Hinckley at this 
time '^ also show his interest in astronomy and his familiarity with 
that science. 

' Ministry on the Kennebec, 2 Maine Historical Collections, ix. 113—123. 

2 Sec Morton's New England's Memorial (Davis's edition, 1826), p. 475; 
4 Massachusetts Historical Collections, v. 299-301. For this reference I am 
indebted to Mr. Frederick L. Gay. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




II 



408 



THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS 



015 861 866 7f 

[Dec. 



The following account of the earliest " rebellion " among the stu- 
dents of Harvard College, about the year 1655, was written by the 
Rev. Thomas Prince in 1757, with reference ^o the Rev. Samuel 
Torrey, of Weymouth, Massachusetts ; but it is equally applicable 
to the Rev. Ichabod Wiswall. The account appears in the Preface 
to Mr. William Torrey's A Brief Discourse concerning Futurities 
[1687], and is as follows : 

I suppose he was admitted into Harvard-College, about 1650 [1651 in 
the case of Wiswall], and should, according to the preceeding Custom, 
have taken his first Degree in three Years. But the Corporation making 
a Law that the Scholars should study at College four Years before they 
commenced Batchelors in Arts; several Scholars tho' they were accounted 
as good as any before them, and I suppose o/ different Classes, went off, 
and never took any Degree at all. There were at least Five of them, who 
after made a very shining Figure in New-England ; viz. Gov. Josiah 
Winslow ; this Rev. Mr. Samuel Torrey; the Rev. Mr. Ichabod Wiswall 
o/Duxbary, Agent for Plymouth-Colony at the Court of England upon 
the Revolution ; the Rev. Mr. Samuel Wakeman of Fairfield / and the 
llev. Mr. Brinsmead of Marlborough : who would all have been a great 
Honour to our Harvard-Catalogue / and I could wish their liFames might 
he yet inserted, as educated there and qualified for their First Degree, tho* 
diverted from it (pp. i, ii).^ 

It is well to credit Mr. Wiswall at this day with the estimate of 
his contemporaries, that he was *' nearly a faultless man " and was 
highly regarded for his "talents, piety,' and incorruptible integ- 
rity ; " and it is a pleasure to recall to mind this distinguished man 
and his forgotten contribution to early American poetry. 



* Cf. Publications of this Society, viii. 200 note. 



